DC Legalizes Gay Marriage, Loses Social Services

The nation's capitol is now the sixth jurisdiction in the US where gay couples can marry. But as wedding bells ring today for happy couples, the local Catholic Church sounded the alarm. Following Congress's approval of DC's same-sex marriage law, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington decided to no longer offer health insurance to any spouses of employees in order to avoid covering gay spouses. And earlier, the DC Catholic Charities ended its 80-year foster care system because it did not want to place children with same-sex couples.

The Catholic Church doesn't take this approach everywhere. In San Francisco, for example, the Archdiocese pursued a more inclusive solution when it wanted to avoid an endorsement of gay marriage. It allowed any employee to insure themselves and a "plus one" — so it could be their gay partner, their grandmother, their sister, whoever.

A church is in a tough position when its teachings don't keep up with society, and many would argue that religion should not have to change with the whim of modern people, while others would call the leaders bigots. Still, I would suggest that if these religious leaders embraced acceptance and love they would move closer to the original mission of Jesus and not further from it. And wouldn't that be a win-win for everyone?

ON a personal note I applaud DC...on another note I wonder at how willy-willy it seems the Catholic Church is on this issue.
Willy-nilly? Why have a different set of rules in SF than DC? That seems to send a conflicting message.

Good for DC :)
The Catholic church should step off their high horse... I wouldn't exactly say they've been the glowing example of morality.

4 years

This article should note that Catholic Charities only placed three adoptions last year (2009), so they aren't a very active part of the overall DC adoption system.
And as others pointed out, if the church is taking care of social services with government money, it should do so without pushing their beliefs. If, on the other hand, they want to push their beliefs, which they have every right to do, they should do so with their own money. Then it's charity work instead of just government contracting work.

It's not absurd to say since I just witnessed a baptism two weeks ago where the Priest indeed did say just that. And my husband's family is devoutly catholic and it was their catholic priest who told my brother-in-law that he had to agree to put the child in a catholic school.
Maybe each catholic region is different, that I do not know, but the one priest in our area who performed this baptism did require that.

SKG - did you have to go to a catholic school? My friend was adopted through a cathlic institution and the people who adopted her had to agree to put her in a catholic school system.
Also, I just went to a baptism the other week and during the baptism the priest had them agreeing to raise the child in the catholic faith, but he then added that they had to agree to put the child in the catholic school system. Did not know they were now requiring children to go to catholic schools.

Um that is the Catholic Church's stance and they are in their own right to do as they please. Just like every poster here and gay person has the right to do as they want. It is in no way imposing or negating anyone's right. The Catholic Church is not the only religous institution that does not support gay marriage therefore I have no idea why everyone always focuses on it, Muslims stone gays and conservative Jews dont accept them either. Personally I believe a good Christian respects and loves all and the only person with a right to judge is God. And please priests are human too, the Church may have not handled it well, but you cant find fault in it for what its human members did. "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone."

:woohoo: Good on DC! I so wish I had a smiley face waving a pride flag!
As for the archdiocese, they're in a very tough position. They take orders from an authority higher than any government. Whether we agree with them or not (which I sure don't, but that's a different discussion), they have to find a way to continue to live by their values and do their good works while not endorsing what they believe is a sin.
While I hope they can react to this with tolerance and acceptance instead of antagonism, I understand how hard it is to sit back and watch people act in a way that is completely opposite of what you believe to be right.

Marcied23, I was going to say the same thing. They should be worried about leaving kids alone with their own priests, not with gay couples. And denying health insurance doesn't sound very Christian to me. I'm glad to hear of the progress in DC though!

wow, that's crazy, i know that they were threatening, but i didn't believe they would go through with it. it's so hypocritical for the archdioceses to take this stand, especially considering the problems they've had with their own priests in the past.